You can disable the option “Download changes since last Send/Receive” to make sure you get a complete fresh copy of the OAB but this could take longer to download. It is recommended to leave the option “Full Details” enabled. In Outlook 2013, you’ll find that this option is no longer available as full details are also used to build the Contact Card.

Delete the OAB files

Another way to make sure that you get a fresh copy of the OAB is by renaming the oab-files to .old when Outlook is closed.

You can paste the path mentioned above in the Address Bar of Explorer to quickly open the location. When you are using Outlook 2010 or Outlook 2013, you’ll find a folder called Offline Address Books which itself holds subfolders with named after Account GUIDs.

When you have multiple Exchange accounts configured, you’ll find a folder for each account that you have. The quickest and most thorough method is to simply rename the Offline Address Books folder by appending .old behind it. When you use Outlook 2007 or previous, you’ll have to rename the individual oab-files instead. There are 6 of them: uanrdex.oab ubrowse.oab udetails.oab updndex.oab urdndex.oab utmplsts.oab After deleting the files, make sure you trigger a manual update from within Outlook as described above.

Recreating the mail profile

If you are still having issues with your OAB afterwards or if the files aren’t being recreated after a manual update, it is very likely that your OAB issues are rooted deeper in your mail profile. In that case, it is recommended to recreate your mail profile.